“It is very clear that there are tremendous surplus
quantities that led to this severe decline in the prices,” al-Luaibi said today in Vienna, where he is attending the meeting
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “This
would not serve anyone.”

OPEC ministers are convening this week to review the
group’s output target of 30 million barrels a day, which members
are exceeding by about 1.9 million barrels, according to the
International Energy Agency’s most-recent monthly oil-market
report on May 11. OPEC’s 12 members, led by Saudi Arabia, supply
about 40 percent of global crude.

There will be no discussion this week of individual quotas
for member nations and it will be “many years” before OPEC
talks about a specific allocation for Iraq’s own production
level, al-Luaibi said.

Oil prices have plunged as Europe’s debt woes intensify,
U.S. unemployment remains stuck above 8 percent and the threat
of a conflict over Iran’s nuclear program recedes. Brent for
July settlement has dropped 17 percent since the beginning of
May on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The July
contract fell 72 cents at $98.75 a barrel today.

Iraq expects to receive final development plans from
international oil companies detailing plateau production rates
“in a few months” as the country reviews its long-term output
target, he said.